A Clicker for your Ticker

It’s well documented that I love my Apple Watch and use it daily to keep track of my activity. While the built-in apps do a fantastic job of keeping track of your health, I wanted something different.

One of the things I noticed early on was how a simple number like “Longest Move Streak” could be a motivating factor. You want that number to keep going up and will do crazy things like jump on an exercise bike with a glass of whisky at ten minutes to midnight so you can burn 20 calories and make your goal. (Yes, I really did this. And I’m not alone in my obsession.)

We’re currently at the beginning of an El Niño cycle: this means the Pacific Ocean has been warm and inviting. I wanted to track a “higher level” goal on my watch: the number of swims I’ve done during the season. The result is Clicker:

The app is just one big button. Every time you tap your watch face you get a little haptic feedback and the counter goes up. If you force press, you can decrement or reset the counter. There is also a watch complication that lets you see the current count on your watch face. Seriously, it’s that simple.

But with this simplicity comes the same motivation that you see in the Activity app. Every time you flick your wrist you’re reminded of a number that’s important to you. It could be the number of days since you quit smoking, the number of pounds you’ve lost on your diet, or the number of times you’ve taken your watch in the ocean. Trust me, it works so well that I’ll probably be swimming in cold water just to hit my goal of 100 swims!